Archivist

Archivist job description: Typical employers | Qualifications and training | Key skills | Useful links | Find job and courses

Archivists are responsible for assembling, cataloguing, preserving and managing historically valuable collections of information, which exist in a wealth of formats. Archivists work within a wide variety of public and private sector organisations, and once qualified, may move between a variety of organisations, roles and specialisations. Key duties of the job include:

• evaluating, selecting, retrieving and arranging materials;
• answering enquiries;
• organising publicity events such as talks and exhibitions;
• making the archives accessible to a wide range of users;
• transferring perishable documents to robust storage media, eg online;
• producing teaching materials and other documentation;
• identifying and bidding for funding;
• negotiating the acquisition of new collections;
• supervising staff and budgets.

Archivists may specialise in the care and provision of certain types of information, such as maps, videos or parchment, or in information relating to a specific subject or area of interest. This is particularly true of large archive services with several departments. However, it must be noted that the majority of services require a single archivist to assume multiple roles; there may be some overlap with record management roles in particular.

Employment prospects are good, due to difficulties in recent years difficulties in recruiting professionally trained staff. Once qualified, archivists can work for employers of any size in the private and public sectors, but flexibility in terms of location may be the key to securing employment.

Vacancies are advertised in local and national newspapers, and the Archives & Records Association's (ARA) recruitment bulletins (available to members). Details of traineeships and volunteering opportunities are available through national organisations such as ARA and the National Archives, but it may also be beneficial to approach archive services directly.

Typical employers of archivists

• Local and central government;
• Specialist and national repositories, such as the Public Record Office, the British Library;
• Universities;
• Charities;
• Libraries;
• Ecclesiastical institutions and bodies;
• Large organisations and companies, from the NHS to multinational commercial firms;
• Museums.

Qualifications and training required

An ARA accredited postgraduate diploma is the minimum level of qualification required for entry into the profession, although an accredited master's course may be beneficial due to the high level of competition.

There are only seven ARA accredited postgraduate courses in the UK and Ireland, so competition for course places is severe. Applications should ideally be made before the end of December in the year prior to study. A good honours degree in any subject is generally acceptable, as vacancies may be found in almost any subject.

An interest and awareness of history and the value of archives as evidence may prove advantageous, but any subject that allows contact with original records will show sensitivity to an archivist's professional skills. While knowledge of Latin may still be useful in some positions, it is no longer essential.

Relevant work experience is a common prerequisite to postgraduate study. Qualifications may be studied on a full-time, part-time or distance-learning basis, although the latter must be studied in relation with a consenting archive service. Funding may be granted for full-time students, but this application process may only be pursued once an offer of a place has been made, and is not available to part-time students.

Once qualified, archivists are encouraged to pursue continuing professional development (CPD) objectives through ARA's Registration Scheme, and further sector-specific qualifications are available through ARA and the National Archives.

Key skills for archivists

Employers seek people who are:

• inquisitive;
• methodical and logical;
• organised, with excellent administrative skills;
• highly IT-literate and adaptable;
• able to work in a team;
• friendly and able to relate well to a wide range of users;
• excellent verbal communicators;
• able to carry out independent research;
• forward-thinking, with an ability to anticipate and prepare for changing demands for and uses of archived information.